This invention relates to a method and apparatus for generating control rules used for expert systems and for fuzzy control, and to a method and apparatus for fuzzy control using the control rules. Particularly, the invention relates to a method and apparatus for automatic control rule generation which are suited to generate optimal control rules automatically without relying on the memory of a skilled operator who operates the control object.
The scheme of artificial intelligent (AI) control has been applied in many fields recently, and the range of application is further expanding. This control scheme formulates human experience into rules, and determines control values based on the rules. Conventionally, in creating a rule, the control system engineer collects the experience of operators on the operation of the control object and determines the rule based on feeling. However, the experience based on the memory of the operator is very ambiguous and it is necessary to collect much data thereby to remove inconsistent data in order to alleviate the ambiguity. The designer himself must know the control object to some extent for creating an optimal rule. If the designer relies on his feeling in generating a rule, it will take inpractically too long a time and the rule will lack the reliability due to the inclusion of inconsistent data or the like.
Various support systems have been proposed for rule generation as described, for example, in Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication Nos. 62-271146, 62-288941, 1-44546, 60-237539, and 63-27154. These conventional techniques of rule generation are designed to introduce graphics and simulation thereby to minimize the time expended in rule generation, or to generate a consistent rule automatically based on an existing rule.